Goldman Sachs upgrades Titan, Greece

Goldman Sachs has upgraded Titan Cement Co to neutral from sell, Dow Jones reports. While the investment bank remains cautious on Titan's end markets in the near term, it says consensus FY13/14 EBITDA expectations have decreased by 10 per cent year-to-date and there is no longer such a significant difference versus Goldman's estimates.

Titan's turnover recovered by 3.6 per cent last year to EUR1130.7m, following the 19.2 per cent drop in the previous year. The EBITDA, however, continued its double-digit decline and fell by 19.8 per cent to EUR195.8m. The previous year's the net attributable profit of EUR11.0m, which had been an 89.3 per cent drop, was turned into a EUR24.5m loss.

Goldman Sachs notes that Titan has underperformed the building materials sector by around 16 per cent over the last month, largely due to increased macro concerns in the euro area and consensus estimate downgrades. In Titan's domestic market of Greece, cement consumption is estimated to have dropped by some 35 per cent in 2012 and is now less than a quarter of the peak level seen in 2006. Western European turnover declined by a further 10.6 per cent last year to EUR240.2m, having fallen by 38.5 per cent in the previous year, but the EBITDA was just 9.1 per cent lower at EUR32.1m, having dropped 59.7 per cent in 2011. Titan's turnover in South Eastern Europe also declined by 6.7 per cent to EUR225.1m and the EBITDA fell by 26.4 per cent to EUR63.9m